In an automobile equipped with the gasoline engine, the depression of an accelerator pedal for rapid acceleration is accompanied by a large pulsation of acceleration in the advance direction, so-called acceleration surging, which sometimes brings about a jerky operation.
An ignition timing control device for an internal combustion engine of the prior art is disclosed, for instance, in FIG. 5 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-159372 (1985) published on Aug. 20, 1985 entitled "Ignition timing control method of internal combustion engine". The prior art discloses that a retard angle control of a predetermined value is carried out during acceleration, and after that the retard angle is gradually returned to zero with the lapse of time or at each ignition timing of the engine. The method of the prior art aims at reducing the knocking in the acceleration timing. However, the prior art does not consider the jerky operation which will occur after the acceleration. When the retard angle value is greatly increased for improving the jerky operation, the acceleration is damaged, the ignition is failed, and the jerky operation is not prevented.